


Shooting Stars In Past Times

by AscendingToTheStar



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/M, Implied spoilers, Sadstuck, Time Shenanigans, idk man
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-19
Updated: 2014-01-19
Packaged: 2018-01-09 06:37:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1142694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AscendingToTheStar/pseuds/AscendingToTheStar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dave goes back in time to see young Jade before the game. He's devastated by what happened to her, and though he won't say what it was, it's obviously hit hard.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shooting Stars In Past Times

The night was bright and beautiful. The stars shone brightly, speaking to the world below with whispers of the hopes and dreams of the future and things beyond them. She had always loved the night sky, you remember her telling you since you were both young that she wanted to go to space one day, to meet aliens, to travel to a faraway place. You never really understood why, but you wanted the same. The thought of traveling, of being somewhere new, it all made you wish for it, and filled your heart with something. Hope? Desire? Excitement? You were never sure. You’d never let it show on your face, but you loved these nights. The dark sky around you, and for the first time in person according to her perspective, the both of you seated on a ledge, you loved it. The extent of the land in front of you cascaded beautifully into the dark. Maybe you could allow a little emotion. You smiled to yourself, in awe and wonder and fondness. You were glad that Jade had been here when you came. She leaned on your shoulder, staring with wide eyes at the atmosphere above the both of you. She had a smile just like the one dawned on your face. You decide that it wouldn’t hurt if you carefully set your arm around her shoulder. She responds by sitting closer, and laying her head closer to you. You wish you could spend time like this more often, with this girl who cared so much for you, or even with all of your friends.

“Dave?” She asks curiously. You look at her and your lips tug upwards into a small smile.

“Yes Jade?”

“How did you get here?”

Your face returns to its original expression. “It’s a long story.” You bite your lip; you have to keep it together Dave.

“Can you tell me?” She smiles at you, and she looks over your expression in wonder, though much different form the way she looked at the sky. More of, endearment you guess. You’re probably just reading into things too much.

“I can’t, Jade. I would be… Spoiling things.” You inhale deeply. You have to keep yourself together. You can’t cry, not in front of her. She doesn’t need to know. She probably wouldn’t want to know. You hear her calling you, and you realize you zoned out for a moment. “Huh, what?” You shake your head and look down at her through your shades. She smiles at you, and nuzzles into your side.

“Nothing Dave,” She said, closing her eyes and putting her arms around you. You can’t help but smile at her again, and, oh no. You feel tears welling up in your eyes, god damn it, you’re going to cry. You wipe at your eye with your free hand from under your shades, and you swear you wouldn’t cry. Dave, you can’t do this. She’s… You know what happened, but you can’t. She looks up at you after a notable amount of silence, and she has a worried expression.

“Are you okay?” She slowly sits up, and sets a hand on your shoulder in comfort. You nod, though you sniffle, and you can’t seem to hold them back. A tear trickles down your cheek and you feel like you’re breaking, yet you’re so happy to see her. You’re so conflicted, you can’t define what you feel and you’re not going to be able to keep it together. Fuck, you’re actually crying now. Both of your eyes let flow a river of tears, and you start shaking, hunched over. She holds onto you, trying to look at you while you sob. Tears are falling from your cheeks, dampening the grass you’re both sitting on. You smile bitterly, you don’t even know why; this is a pitiful attempt to play it off. She’s staring at you, her mouth gaping and worry forced onto her face harder than the time you fell down flights upon flights of stairs.

“I’m so sorry Jade,” You mutter, and she puts her arms around your neck, closing her eyes.

“You don’t have to be, Dave.” She smiles, and you look over at her to see it. You’re going to miss that smile so much. “But please, can’t you tell me? I want to know what’s hurting you.” She stares at you through her glasses, and you know she’s concerned. She wants to know, maybe she even feels like she needs to know. But you can’t tell her. You know you can’t.

“Jade, what would you say if I told you that I can travel through time?”

She gives you that buck toothed grin again, you’ve seen it so many times tonight. “I’d believe you, Dave. That would explain why you look so old, like you’re 16!” You sigh, but you feel your lips move into a smile nonetheless.

“That’s how I got here. I guess I just… wanted to see you. Before it all happened.” You look off, and the breeze makes the places where the tears have ran feel unexplainably cold. She tilts her head, and when you glance back at her, you can see by the way she’s looking at you she doesn’t understand. “Before the game, Jade.” She perks up a bit.

“Oh, the game that I saw we’re going to play!” You nod. That game, the game that both saved all of your lives and ruined them at the same.

“Yeah, that game.” You pause. What if she’s seen it? What if she already knows? Maybe she does. You could ask. “Jade,” you say, sniffling again. Confound emotions, this was a bad idea. You honestly don’t regret it though. “Have you seen anything about you in the far future? The future a few years from now, where I’m from.”  
She pauses for a moment, but she shakes her head. “No, why Dave?” She raises an eyebrow. “Does something happen to me?”

You feel your heart jerk. No, you can’t cry anymore tonight. You’ve already screwed that up once; you’re not doing it again. “Uh, no.” You try to bluff. That was so obvious it hurt, and you’re sure she’s going to see through that. Jade’s a smart girl.

“Dave, that’s so obviously a lie. If nothing happens, you wouldn’t be crying like that.” You sigh heavily. Just as you predicted, she knew.

“Yeah, that was a pretty shitty lie, wasn’t it?” You let a halfhearted laugh escape your lips, and stare down at the ground where your tears have been forever immortalized in the grass. “I guess it’s just, that something really terrible happens. A lot of terrible things do, but this is like the worst so far.” You feel your lip quiver. Strider, you can’t. You absolutely cannot let that happen again. You feel her move closer, and lay her head on your shoulder, hands still wrapped around your neck.

“It’s okay Dave. I’m sure whatever it is, it’s going to be fine. You just have to have some faith.” She closes her eyes and a smile curves on her delicate face, and for a moment, you want to believe her. But you know, you know damn well that it isn’t going to be just fine. You know what’s going to happen, you saw it. You almost wish you didn’t. You feel the urge to cry coming on again, but the tears have worn themselves out. You lean very carefully against her as she holds you, and you let your eyes close. You can’t stay here forever, and you know that soon enough you’re going to have to leave.

“Jade…” You mutter weakly, moving your eyesight over to her.

“Yes?” She says, staring at you with her bright green eyes. You stare down again for a few seconds, before looking back.

“Could you smile for me… One more time?” You know that’s probably a weird question. Why would anyone ask that? It’s stupid, this is-

“Sure thing, cool kid!” She gives you a huge grin, and laughs lightly. You can’t remember the last time she’d called you that. You can’t remember the last time you two even talked when she was herself. After she turned, she was just gone. She wasn’t jade anymore. It was kind of okay at first. But if you would have known it would have led to… to what had happened… you’re just relieved to see her smile.

“Thanks Jade.” You give a minuscule smirk back, and she closes her eyes to emphasize her happiness. You look back up at the sky. The stars are still out, and beautiful as ever.

“Oh, and Dave?” You turn your head to look at her, and you raise an eyebrow.

“Yeah, what is it rifle master 2.0?” She giggles, but stops herself, and a serious expression dawns upon her.

“Will you do something for me too?” You nod, you would never tell her, but you’d do anything for her.

“Yeah, gotta return the favor.” You adjust your shades and watch her, waiting for the answer. She shuffles a bit closer,  and looks you straight through the shades and you as she speaks.

“Promise me you’ll be strong, for me.” You’re taken by surprise at her words, and it takes you a few minutes to gather yourself to answer. She watches you carefully as you stare at her in shock. Finally, you gather yourself, take a deep breath, and you nod.

“Of course Jade. Cross my heart.” She gives you probably the millionth smile that evening, and you give her a sincere smile back. She laughs lightly.

“I never thought I’d see you smile like that Dave! Isn’t that uncool?” You chuckle quietly, and stare off at the world below the cliff.

“Nah. My smile is cool, just like the rest of me.” She giggles, and you allow yourself to snicker with her, and you guess that this wasn’t so bad after all. You still have to go back and face what’s been done, however, and you’re dreading it. But you can’t stay here forever. You feel her shiver next to you, and instinctively you wrap your arm around her again and pull her close. She sifts closer and shivers again, although it seems more like a gesture of joy and warmth compared to the one she had previously, signifying she was cold. “Better?” You ask, and she nods.

“Dave, do you ever look out at the stars and think there’s something else out there?” You smile warmly at her, rubbing her arm and looking down at her. You’re a little too close, and she blushes lightly, but you don’t think she minds.

“I know there’s more out there. And one day, you will too.” She has a look of awe, and she stares up at the sky.

“Oh, oh oh! Dave, Dave look!” She throws her arm up and points to the stars, wiggling her finger and fiddling in happy excitement. “It’s a shooting star! Quick, make a wish with me!” You laugh to yourself at her enthusiasm, and even more when she’s puffed out her cheeks and crossed her fingers to make a wish. She’s such a spazz, but that’s your favorite part about her. The flash across the dark sea above you is already gone, but you guess you can still wish. You close your eyes and wish for the only thing you really want at the moment.

She uncrosses her fingers and looks up at you, goofy grin, glasses, and all. “So,” She asks, “What did you wish for?”

You shake your head. “Can’t tell you, Jade.” You ruffle her hair. “You know the rules.”

“Awww,” She says, frowning deeply and crossing her arms in a pout. “We can share, it’ll be our secret!” You laugh lightly, and nod.

“Alright, alright. But you have to tell me first.” She  nods her head in agreement, and stares up at the beauty of the moon and twinkling lights set in the sky again as she speaks.

“Well Dave,” She says, calming down from her usual excitement to give a whimsical stare into the night, “I wished for you to be happy.” You pause, and then you can’t help but give an endearing smirk at her as she looks to you. “What did you wish for?”

You wipe the wet spot from the corner of your eye threatening to burst like it had earlier, and let out a breath to gather yourself before you answer her.

“Well?”

“Hm?” You play dumb to get her a little riled up. She was always so cute when she was mad.

“Tell me what you wished for, silly!”

“Oh right,” You say, as smooth as possible. You stare off for a moment, and you can’t look her in the eyes right now. Quietly, you say,

 

 

 

“I wished that you’d be okay.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is so sad. My own ending got to me. If you want, please leave a comment. I'd love some feedback. Thanks for reading guys.


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